The authorities in Costa Rica have acknowledged that the fugitive former Peruvian intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos, entered the country last month using a false Venezuelan passport.

Security Minister Rogelio Ramos said the government had learned that Mr Montesinos sailed to a remote Costa Rican island on a private yacht before being picked up by a small plane.

The plane is thought to have taken him to Aruba in the Dutch Antilles. Earlier this week three men claiming to be his former bodyguards said Mr Montesinos had sailed to Costa Rica from the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific in October.

Mr Montesinos is wanted in Peru on charges ranging from corruption to human rights abuses. He was dismissed following a bribery scandal which later brought down President Alberto Fujimori.

Anti-Montesinos protesters want the former spy-chief to face trial

On Friday, Costa Rican security officials said Mr Montesinos might still be in the country using the false identity, but further investigation revealed that the passport had been used to leave the country.

Mr Montesinos fled Peru six days after returning there on 23 October after failing to secure asylum in Panama.

Costa Rica has said it would deny any asylum request to Mr Montesinos, adding that if found, he will be arrested for immediate deportation to Peru, where he is wanted on corruption charges.